The Things you find in a Pet Shop
by Guardian of Nesh
Summary: Written for the Hat Challenge on the Digimon Fanfiction Challenges Forum. A season 1 and 3 AU. Six months after the fight wuth the D-Reaper Rika is being dragged from pet store to pet store in an effort to replace Renamon. In a pet store in Odaiba she meets someone who's lost a Digimon before. Tai/Rika.


**The Things you find in a Pet Shop**

Rika wasn't happy. Some people like Kazu and Kenta would tell you that she was _never_ happy and she had to begrudgingly admit that these days that was pretty close to true. She hadn't really felt anything close to happiness since the battle with the D-Reaper. Since she'd lost Renamon; even now six months later they still hadn't found a way to get their partner Digimon back.

The adults in their lives weren't much help. They all wanted their kids to move on with their lives and forget about their Digimon. They all realized how bad their children were hurting but they were all too happy that that they weren't risking life and limb anymore. They didn't want them to get their Digimon back. Digimon led to dangerous things. They were trying to be good parents, Rika could see that but it didn't mean she had to like it.

Her mother's latest attempt to get her to "move on" is why she was currently in the family car driving through the streets of Odaiba. They were stopping at any and every pet shop they could find in an effort to get Rika to pick out a pet to, well let's be honest, replace Renamon.

This whole thing was stupid. She didn't want some mangy cat or dog, she wanted Renamon back. Renamon was her first friend, she was graceful, intelligent, and caring. How could some cat or dog with only slightly more brains than Kazu and Kenta ever hope to even compare to that?

At least her mother had spared her the mortification of using a limousine. Rika was actually kind of surprised her mother could even drive considering she was usually driven everywhere. Not that she really cared at this moment. She just wanted to end this torture.

"Why are we even still doing this mom? I already told you I don't want a pet. Animals smell weird and they're stupid. No pet is going to make me happy. I lost my _best friend_, you can't just replace Renamon with some flea-bitten beast!" Rika could only take so much of this before she exploded and she'd finally reached her limit.

"Rika Nonaka, you will _not_ take that tone with me. I'm your mother and you will be respectful." Her mother snapped. Then she sighed, "Look I know you miss Renamon but Digimon, even the good ones like her can lead to bad things. You never should've had to go to the Digital World or fight that D-Reaper thing. Once we find the right pet you'll feel better, I promise."

"Yeah right." Rika muttered just low enough so her mother wouldn't hear. She sighed as they pulled into the parking lot of yet another pet shop. She didn't even bother looking at the name of this one. Once inside Rika crinkled her nose. This place smelled just like all the other ones. She hated that smell. That was another point in Renamon's favor: she could clean herself.

Rika looked around at the pet shop, at all the cats and dogs in kennels with eager looks in their eyes. Deep down she had to admit that they were kind of cute. It wasn't their fault that they couldn't measure up to a Digimon. She'd never admit that to anyone though so she kept her trademark scowl up.

As soon as the bells chimed to let people know there were new customers every employee in the place turned to the door. In terms of other customers it was empty right now. The employees were mostly middle-aged women reading fashion magazines and one teenaged boy maybe a little older than Ryo who was wearing a pair of goggles and had the biggest bird's nest of brown hair she'd ever seen.

The googles made her smile a little as she thought of Takato. Of all the Tamers Takato was probably the one adjusting best to the loss of his partner now that he and Jerri had confessed their mutual crush on each other. She was doing the worst. Without Renamon she'd regressed back into her loner tendencies. Everyone else had their friends and while Rika was still friends with them she kind of felt like the odd one out.

She was drawn out of her thoughts when one of the women dropped her magazine and pointed at her mother. "You're Rumiko Nonaka!" She shrieked. As if on cue five middle-aged women mobbed her mother and started asking for autograph. The boy though seemed to be studying her with rather curious brown eyes. He quietly approached her and took her hand.

"Come with me if you want to live." He said with a wink. Rika rolled her eyes, melodramatic much? Before she could say anything else he drug her toward a room further back in the store.

"Just what do you think you're doing Gogglehead?" Rika snapped as she finally managed to pull away from him. The older boy quirked an eyebrow.

"Gogglehead? That's a new one. I'm really just trying to help you. I assume you're related to that lady they're all mobbing out there."

"I'm her daughter."

"Ah, then it's a good thing I got you out of there when I did, eventually the conversation would've turned to you and you would've been mobbed by them. Do you know what kind of pet you want?"

"Rika, my name's Rika, and I don't want a pet my mother dragged me all the way here from Shinjuku so that I could find a pet to replace a friend I lost. We've been trying every pet store we can find." The boy let out a low whistle.

"All the way from Shinjuku, your mom's pretty adamant about this huh? Oh, you can call me Tai by the way. So how long has it been since you lost your last pet? It sounds like it was very special to you."

"She wasn't a pet she was my best friend. She was always there for me when I needed her, no matter what. Even when I was being a jerk. No simple pet could ever replace Renamon." Tai's eyes widened.

"Did you say Renamon, like a Digimon?" Rika cursed softly as she realized just how badly she messed up by saying Renamon's name.

"N-No." She protested, trying to back away from this boy.

"It's okay Rika, I've been where you are." Tai reached behind him and unclipped something from the back of his jeans. It looked like a small virtual pet toy and while it was a different model than the one she had Rika knew what that device was instantly.

"A Digivice," she breathed, "but that means you're a-"

"Digidestined like you? Yeah. I think we should sit down Rika." Tai waved her over to a pair of chairs against the wall and they sat down.

"Tai, if you have a Digimon then why didn't you help us against the D-Reaper?" Rika asked bluntly. There were a myriad of questions competing in her mind but that was the one that one out.

"I didn't help because, like you I don't have my Digimon partner anymore. I haven't seen Agumon in about two and a half years, since shortly after the fight with Diaboromon on the internet. Judging by your mentioning of the D-Reaper I'd say you lost Renamon about six months ago, right?" Rika nodded.

"Does it ever get any easier Tai?" Rika didn't know why she was even talking to this guy. Maybe it was because he'd been through the same loss as her. She just need to talk with _someone_ who could understand what she'd been through and all of her friends were busy with their own lives.

"No, it doesn't. You just do the best you can to deal with the pain. My friend all buried themselves in various activities to dull the pain of loss. Matt in his bad, Izzy in his computer, Joe with school things like that." The names meant nothing to Rika but the situation was all too familiar.

"It's the same for my group. How did you cope Tai?"

"I didn't cope Rika. I miss the adventure, I miss being the hero, but now all I have to remember it by is my Digivice and this picture." Tai pulled a well-worn photo out of his back pocket. It showed a group of eight children and several Digimon. Among them was Tai about three years younger.

"I just miss Renamon, she was my best friend, my first friend. I feel like half of me is missing without her."

"I hate to say it but it's always going to feel that way Rika. I still miss Agumon. Your time with your Digimon is something you'll never forget and going back to normal life after that isn't easy."

"So what do I do? How do I pick up where I left off and find fulfillment?"

"I can't really help you there Rika. You'll have to find the answer to that question on your own. If you ever need to talk to someone about how you're feeling, you can always call me." Tai left the room briefly and came back with a sheet of notebook paper with a phone number on it.

"What's the blank piece of paper for?" She asked.

"So you can give me your phone number. That way when you call I'll know who it is."

"Are you sure this isn't just an excuse to get my number. I've had boys try things like that before Gogglehead."

"I'm sure you have Rika," Tai said with a teasing wink, "but I think I may be a little too old for you."

"If only Ryo thought that about himself…" Rika muttered.

"Did you say Ryo?" Tai asked in seeming shock.

"Yeah why?"

"Oh it's nothing, don't worry about it." Rika didn't buy that but she let the matter drop.

"Give me the pen and paper." She snapped. Tai handed them to her and she jotted down her phone number before handing them back.

"Yes! I got the cute girl's number!" The triumph in Tai's voice was obviously teasing. He was mocking her for her previous comment. Still Rika felt her cheeks heat beside herself. Why was she blushing? To hide it Rika went into standby mode. Angry shouting.

"Can it Gogglehead!" It was just then that her mother peaked into the room.

"Rika the store is closing. Did you find a pet you wanted?"

"No mom, I didn't. I told you, I don't want a pet. I did make a new friend though. This is Tai." Her mother looked at Tai and frowned.

"It's nice to meet you Tai." She said though her manner was very curt. "Let's go home Rika it's getting late." Neither of them said a word as they left the pet shop though Rika tucked the paper with Tai's number on it in her back pocket so it would be safe from her mother.

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><p>This story as it stands is complete. However I may expand on it more if people want and if I have the time; in fact I probably will. My other fics would come first though. I may come back to this later so I'm not marking it as complete just in case. If I do expand on it will most definitely be a TaiRika story as I've already started hinting that slightly here. You can read this fic in one of two ways as it is right now. 1. 02 never happened or 2. 02 hasn't happened yet. I would need to decide which if I ever wanted to expand this.


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